The First Choice
by Magician-of-Oz
Summary: Though Kent and Sain did a fine job in escorting the heir of Caelin to her throne they were not the Marquess' first choice. The knights originally assigned to the task but were assassinated before reaching. Here, I tell you what could have been.
1. Chapter 1

OK, so this is my first fanfic ever, I'm heartless so I don't mind harsh reviews but what I do mind is useless reviews. I want to know if my writing and structure is acceptable, if I should be more or less descriptive and on what specifically. I've put the prologue and chapter one together since they'll probably be the two shortest chapters of the fic and to put as much of my current writing style into my first fanfic as I could. I'm not entirely happy with it but here goes, I hope you like it and if you don't I hope you tell me why.

Edit: Well, I've reformatted as was suggested to me by all reviews so far, I also added rulers to sepperate chapters and important parts of chapters. I hope it's better and that the rulers aren't out of place.

* * *

Prologue: Setting out.

* * *

Targets and dummies fell quickly and easily to Chris' heavy blade as he trained in the Caelin royal army training field. The marquess had chosen him to go on a mission as important as retrieving his heir so he was training diligently. Failure was not an option, not that he had ever failed before, and he wanted to make sure that there was no way this mission could fail. Each strike of his sword caused wood and sweat to fly into the air. After having trained hard for over and hour Chris stabbed his sword into the ground and sat down, leaning against the flat of it's blade. His breathing was heavy and sweat dropped from his face and well built arms. His short black hair was also dripping and the movement had caused it to stick out at odd angles.

A voice spoke from behind him, even though he had heard no footsteps. "Don't over work yourself you bastard, I'll have no sleeping in once we're on our way to Sacae."

Chris smiled without turning around, knowing the voice. "I see you're as considerate as ever Oz, shouldn't you be reading over your tomes before we leave?"

Oz made his way in front of Chris, his usual black robe on and his saffron bangs covering his eyes almost completely. "I was on my way to cut my hair when I saw you out here sweating like a pig."

Chris chuckled before answering. "Cut your hair? But you already cut it this year, it's pretty weird of you to cut your hair more than once a year."

Oz smiled slightly at the comment before pushing his hair out of his face and replying. "I wouldn't want the Marquess' granddaughter to think I can't even afford a haircut, she's my ticket to the throne." Oz laughed as he walked away and Chris waved good bye as he quietly chuckled to himself.

After speaking to Oz Chris decided to call it a day, he went for breakfast and lunch (he had a bad habit of missing meals when he was intent on training) he gathered and packed his supplies and by the time he was done it was time for him to have dinner. The mission started tomorrow and that called for an early rise so Chris changed and got to bed.

* * *

The next morning the sun was just peaking over the horizon when Oz got out of bed, he washed his face and changed into a dark brown robe with a pitch black cloak over it. His freshly cut bangs ended at his brows and the rest of his hair was about as short. He grabbed his compressed tomes, he had been studying elder magic so long and so hard that he only needed very basic tomes for each spell, and put them away in predestined cloak pockets. He then strapped a heal staff onto his back and filled his pouch with 5,000 gold.

Oz left his room with only minimal light to guide him through the royal army's barracks. Eventually he came to his desired destination and banged on the door. "Hey Chris you bastard, it's time to go! If you haven't woken up yet you'd better have slept in your traveling clothes!"

A thud and silent cursing could be heard through the door before Chris opened the door, his hair was messy and his eyes were half-closed. He was already wearing his open neck, sleeveless shirt and baggy pants that reached just below his knees. "Yeah yeah, I'm dressed. Just let me wash my face and get my stuff before we go."

Oz watched Chris get ready with crossed arms. Chris started by washing his face, he then strapped his shield onto his back, his sword was sheathed in the shield. He hung a hand axe from his waist and put his pouch and a couple of vulnaries in his pack which he shouldered before walking out of his room and shutting the door. "OK, I'm ready to go." Chris spoke in an unenthusiastic tone. "Now we just have to wait for the Marquess to wake up."

Oz punched Chris' shoulder and gestured for him to follow as he walked down the halls. "Don't worry, I got a soldier to report that we're leaving to the Marquess so we can go right away." Chris replied in an even less enthusiastic tone. "Oh joy."

After a bit of walking Chris and Oz got out of the building and walked to the stables. There a young man dressed in Cavalier's armor greeted Oz. "Your horse is ready sir, any message you want me to give the Marquess?"

Oz took out 500 gold from his pouch and dropped it into the Cavalier's hand. "Thanks Sain, nah just tell him we're leaving."

Oz and Chris mounted their horses and started out of the stable. Once they were out of the stable and on their way North-East toward Sacae Chris spoke. "So you bribed the guy, I knew no one would be willing to wake up this early just to be helpful."

Oz chuckled at Chris' comment. "Of course, I can only rely on myself and my cash." As the two Caelin soldiers got rode toward Sacae they they had no idea of the hardships and effort that that would be necessary to bring the heir of Caelin to the throne.

* * *

Chapter 1: A Girl From The Plains

* * *

Oz was annoyed, tired and hungry. It had been hours since they had left there last camp and they seemed to be lost on the never-ending plains of Sacae. "Are you sure we went the right way you thick-headed bastard?"

Chris was tired and hungry too but he was keeping calm. "I don't think we made any mistakes but we should have gotten there about an hour ago."

Oz glared at Chris, baring his teeth in a grimace. "Idiot! I bet you made us take a wrong turn or something!"

Chris shook his head and sighed. "Then why don't you take charge of the directions from now on, o human compass?"

Oz was slightly surprised by Chris' suggestion but he tried not to show it. "Eh, well now that we're off track directions won't help us, all we can do is keep searching."

* * *

Oz yawned and put his hand up to get the late morning sun out of his eyes, as soon as he did he noticed the smoke. "Look! There's some smoke at about two o' clock!" Oz forced his horse into a gallop and turned toward the place the smoke was coming from, with a sigh Chris followed at the same speed. As they got closer to the source the smoke became more noticeable, they could see the fire and hear both screams and battle cries. The sights and sounds of a raid had Chris getting his shield and sword ready and Oz already reaching for a tome. Once they had reached the village they saw bandits slaughtering and robbing, the few Sacaen warriors were being overpowered and women and children were killed without mercy.

Once he had gotten close enough Chris turned his horse sharply to the left and jumped at one of the bandits, as he flew through the air he drew his blade and stabbed it through the bandit's chest when he came down, he immediately pulled the sword out and ran to the next bandit whom he nearly split in two with one swing of his sword. Meanwhile Oz had gotten off his horse and was moving through the camp, fending off bandits with a flux spell. Eventually he found what he was looking for. His clothes obviously made him the chief of the tribe and a young woman fitting the Marquess' granddaughter's description was fighting alongside him.

Oz pulled out his Nosferatu tome and cast the spell, but instead of taking the energy into himself he let it flow into the Chief of the Lorca tribe and the Marquess' granddaughter, slaying several bandits and renewing his new ally's bodies at the same time. Oz switched back to his Flux tome as he hurried up to the Chief. "My name is Oz and I'm a soldier of the Calean royal army! I've been sent by the Marquess to retrieve Lady Madelyn and Lady Lyndis and take them to Caelin!" As Oz explained himself to the Chief he cast a few spells to keep bandits at bay.

The Chief was obviously surprised at Oz's self-explanation but kept fighting, swift strokes of his sword brought down several bandits at once. "I am Hassar, chief of the Lorca tribe! We can talk after we've survived this raid, take my daughter away from here, there's too much fighting in this area! Protect her until the bandits have been forced into a retreat!" Hassar nodded from the young woman who was fighting near him to Oz, she nodded back at Hassar and followed Oz as they fought through the horde of bandits to reach Chris.

Chris had been fighting hard the entire time, his clothes stained with sweat and blood and his sword bearing several new notches. He had just cracked into a bandits skull with his sword's pommel when Oz and Hassar's daughter approached. "Who's this? She isn't the Marquess' grandaughter is she?" Hassar's daughter spoke up just after slitting a Bandit's throat. "My name is Lyndis, I am the daughter of Hassar, chief of the Lorca tribe."

Ignoring Lyn's introduction Oz nodded, comfirming that she was infact the Marquess' granddaughter. Noticing Oz's nod Lyn was surprised but didn't have time to comment because she was forced to fend of another incoming bandit. After fighting for sometime the bandits retreated, looking around Lyn and the Caelin soldiers noticed that very few were left standing. Without a word Lyn rushed tp the place where she had last seen her father, Oz and Chris followed close behind in case there were any bandits still in the area.

* * *

As Lyn reached the spot she had left her father she found her father's corpse, which was missing and arm and had a wound large enough for his heart to have been torn out, Lyn fell to her knees once she was beside the fallen cheif. She covered her face as she sobbed and hiccuped while Oz and Chris, unsure of what to do, stood away from Lyn and simply watched with somber eyes. They knew neither Lyn nor Hassar so they had no condolences or words of solace to offer, they merely allowed Lyn to mourn her father on her own.

The other tribe members were mourning dead, tending to their wounds or attempting to repair the damage done by the raid. Lyndis continued to weep in front of her father's corpse, the bodies of both bandits and Sacaens littering the battlefield and blood turning the ground into red mud.

After what seemed to Oz like an hour of weeping, sobbing and hiccuping she stood, wiping tears from her eyes and walked to Oz and Chris, her head hung down in sorrow. "My mother was killed earlier during the raid, my father is now dead, my tribe is in ruins . . . You said you came to retrieve me and that I was the granddaughter of the Marquess Caelin. Is this true?"

Oz nodded solemnly. "Your mother, Lady Madelyn, ran away to Sacae and left the Marquess Caelin heir-less. Only recently the Marquess received word of your existence and sent us to retrieve you and your mother. The Marquess is terribly ill and all he wants now is to see his daughter and granddaughter."

Lyndis stood in silence for minutes before lifting her head, a look of determination attempting to hide her remaining sorrow. "I want to see him, I have nothing left and I'd like to meet my grandfather."

Oz nodded once again and turned toward the direction in which he and Chris had left their horses. "Gather whatever you need to take and find a horse. We'll leave as soon as you're ready." Oz started walking away, Chris stayed put and watched him leave for a moment before nodding to Lyn and walking after him.


	2. Chapter 2

OK, here goes the second chapter of my first fanfic. I'm going to try something that not everyone might like with Lyndis but it's going to shape this stories progress and originality. I hope no one hates the idea and that you respect the author's choice, if not then don't read anymore =P I don't know how many people (if any) were waiting for this second chapter but either way sorry for the wait, I got caught up with other stuff and had a hard time getting on. Once again I'm not sure about it but here's The First Choice.

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Chapter two: Forsaken Plains

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Lyndis walked to her families tents, which had been left mostly untouched compared to the others because of the tribes-people wanting to defend their Chief and his family so diligently, to grab some supplies. She went inside and grabbed a few vulnaries, what gold she could find and a new sword. She then went to the temporary stables for the horses only to find that all those belonging directly to her or her parents had been stolen or killed. She assumed she could borrow someones horse since she was, as of today, Chief of the Lorca tribe but she decided to ask anyway. The closest family that owned any surviving horses was just a few yards away anyway.

Lyn walked over to the couple and noticed that their young son wasn't with them, when she also saw the the anger in the husband's eyes and the tears marked on the wife's face she understood that the boy must have been killed during the raid. When Lyn got close enough to speak properly the woman was filling up a traveling pack while her husband was in the process of bringing their tent down. "Excuse me, I was wondering if I could borrow one of your horses, I must go on urgent business and not one of my families horses was spared during the attack."

The man looked up, Lyndis remembered his name to be Marc as she got a closer look at his face, both his voice and expression pointed out he was angry. "You think we got out much better? We weren't left with enough to be handing out charity!"

Lyn winced at Marc's response and hesitated before she spoke again, and when she did it was with uncertainty. "But with my father gone I have the position of Chief, I need a horse."

Lyn's rebut obviously made Marc angrier. "You! Chief! You may have been Hassan's daughter but believe me, not me, nor anyone is going to accept you as chief! Especially after the raid that's left us with so little! Everyone is talking about merging with another tribe because of how weak we've been left. You can forget about any special privileges or charities right now."

Lyn, without another word, simply turned and headed back to the stables. What Marc had said gave her a new outlook. Before she looked at the endless plains and saw freedom and happiness, now looking at the blood soaked battlefield where her family died and her tribe rejected her she couldn't see past the insecurity and selfishness. She chose a horse at random, not caring who it belonged to, and got on she rode out to where the two Caelin knights were supposed to be as quickly as she could. She had decided she would leave the insecurity of the plains to become a lady of Caelin.

* * *

"If you're going to take that long with everything you do the Marquess' brother will inherit the title before you do!" Oz said rather annoyed as soon as he saw Lyn riding towards their position.

Before Lyn could respond Chris sighed. "You'll have to excuse my companion's manners Lady Lyndis, he runs a tight schedule with a short temper and tomes of steel."

Lyn was close enough to hear both comments and couldn't help but chuckle at what Chris said. "That's OK, the sooner we get to Caelin the better and I think Oz's high maintenance will help speed us up."

Oz punched Chris' shoulder and smirked. "Hear that? 'Lady Lyndis' appreciates my high maintenance." This ofcourse made Chris sigh even louder. "Oh joy"

Lyn moved abit closer to the two on her horse before speaking. "So, which way is Caelin?"

Chris took the map out and Oz snatched it away a fraction of a second later before he opened it up to take a good look. "Ahem, since we got lost on the way here I asume this map is outdated and that your tribe had moved so all we can be sure of is that we're somewhere in Sacae. Our best choice is probably to ride straight south from here then hug the mountainside while we ride east to reach Bulgar since traveling through the mountains will get us more encounters with the Taliver Bandits than we'd like. We'll make a quick stop their before we continue south to Bern and then west until we reach Caelin."

Lyn nodded and turned her horse southward. "Sounds like a plan, should we be on our way?" She set her horse in motion before either knight could respond which left both of them fumbling for words.

"H-hey, we're supposed to be escorting you, not following you around!" Oz yelled after her as he rode to catch up.

Chris sighed again and shook his head before he rode after both of his companions. "I have a feeling this is gonna be a long trip."

* * *

Now the trio rode together, Oz was in front leading the other two, of course. "Hey, I think we're close enough to the mountains that we can find our way to Bulgar. The whole reason we aren't going through them is so we don't run into fewer Bandits." Chris called to Oz while he eyed the mountains rather suspiciously.

Oz shook his head and traced his finger over the map he was holding. "I don't think so, we'll need to get abit closer."

Oz sounded as sure of himself as usual so Chris decided not to argue but Lyndis obviously didn't know Oz. "I think Chris is right, I've been to Bulgar before and it's pretty easy to see on the plains."

Oz, as always, stuck with his first idea. "It's faster this way, and if we go east from here we'll have to go south again to reach Bulgar, this way we only make one turn."

Lyn caught on fast so she just dropped the subject. "So what's Caelin like?"

"Hmmm?" Oz, looked back at Lyn for a moment while he thought of how to answer her question. "Well, it's a big city, part of the Lycian league as you know. You'll be staying at the Marquess' place which is obviously very different from growing up in the plains. You'll be getting everything you want on a silver platter and an army to do whatever you need."

Lyn daydreamed about what life in Caelin would be like for her, she wondered if she would like it or if she'd miss her old life on the plains. Actually she was already missing her old life on the plains but she couldn't go back to it after today. That made her think back to growing up in the plains, think back to her mother and father and how kind they and the rest of the tribe were to her. Her eyes started to water at the thought but she shut her eyes and shook her head deciding to look only forward, toward her future in Caelin.

Chris yawned loudly and called forward to Oz. "Hey Oz! How about we stop for the day, I think we're all tired from fighting earlier."

Oz thought for a moment before stopping his horse, forcing Chris and Lyn to stop theirs. "Fine, we'll have to keep a watch though. Chris, it was your idea to stop so you go first then Lyndis, then me."

Chris jumped of his horse and landed with a thud while the other two stepped down. "Great, just don't wake me up until after the sun comes back up." Chris replied to Oz's plan as unenthusiastic as ever.

* * *

Chris' watch was uneventful which allowed Oz to sleep well but when it was time for Lyn's watch to start Chris shook him awake. He acted like he thought it was Oz's turn and went to wake up Lyn but Oz had seen the grin on Chris' face and knew he was just messing with him. As Oz drifted back into sleep after Lyn started her watch he started hearing soft crying which pulled him back out of his near sleep. Obviously Lyndis hadn't let it all out and was using this chance to mourn while the others slept.

Oz got up and walked to Lyn. "If you plan on keeping me up like that I might as well take the watch."

The young woman was obviously surprised and hesitated, her only answer was a slight nod before getting up to walk back to her sleeping bag. Now on watch Oz sat, facing the mountains and yawned getting ready for a long night but only a few minutes after he had sat down Oz saw shapes moving in the darkness of the night moving toward the camp from the mountains. Not wanting to make any sound he moved to get Lyndis and Chris up, neither of them had fallen asleep yet.

"Looks like we've got company, coming this way from the mountains." Oz muttered speaking more softly than he needed to for some reason. "Get up and get ready."

Both of them nodded and got up quickly to grab their weapons while Oz moved to the place he had started to watch to see that the shapes had gotten much closer to the camp and were now easier to understand. Chris could see atleast six axe-weilding men very obviously heading toward the camp. Chris was the first to get ready and walk up to Oz. "Huh, looks like you were right, should we wait for them to get over here?"

Oz shook his head just as Lyn joined the other two. "No, let's go out and meet them so they don't have a chance to steal our stuff." As he finished speaking Oz ran forward toward the enemy while he pulled out a compressed Flux tome.

Chris and Lyndis had no choice but to run out after him though Chris quickly ran past Oz to fight as the front liner as he usually did. Before Chris even reached the enemy one of them had already been taken out by a Flux while another had been injured by the same spell. He left the injured bandit to Lyn while he went on to hack at another one that was nearly cut in two along the waist, as Chris pulled his sword out of the dieing, if not dead, bandit another managed a hit on his back with an axe. Ignoring the pain Chris quickly spun around and cut straight through the attacker's neck causing the head to fall onto the floor. Now Chris watched as the last bandit fell to another Flux spell. "Yeah, I think we're close enough to the mountains now, eh Oz?"

Oz let out a slight chuckle as he slid his tome back into the designated pocket and pulled out the heal staff. "Yeah yeah, now do you need some healing or is that axe wound gonna heal itself?"

Lyndis couldn't help but chuckle while she watched Oz prod the wound on Chris' back before healing it and couldn't help but feel this was going to be a fun


End file.
